Hassle marks the full-length album debut of Erik Hassle , a 20-year-old British-based singer/songwriter with a contemporary soul-pop style who originally hailed from a small town in Sweden. The album is comprised of songs that Hassle wrote during his late teens, and practically all of them dwell on the pain of teenage heartache. The theme is so pervasive that Hassle plays with a confessional arc. Beginning and concluding with songs of self-assurance that everything will indeed be OK in the end ("Bump in the Road," "Make It in Time"), the remainder of the album delves headfirst into heartache, starting with the standout song "Hurtful," which pretty much sums up the overarching sentiment of Hassle (., love hurts). The next song, "Don't Bring Flowers After I'm Dead," is another standout and demonstrates that Hassle does indeed have a lighter side of his songwriting persona, even if he delivers the song with full-on earnestness, belting out the refrain as if he truly means it. While the lyrics are perhaps too much for anyone of marrying age, the contemporary soul-pop style of Hassle is another noteworthy aspect of the album. The young singer/songwriter has a powerful voice and puts his instrument to full use on song after song, launching into explosive choruses with sweeping melodies in a manner not often heard from geeky white boys his age. From a musical standpoint, he collaborates with Tysper ( Tommy Tysper ), Mack ( Marcus Sepehrmanesh ), and Grizzly ( Gustav Jonsson ) of the Swedish songwriting and production team Company Ten, who had previously collaborated with A-Teens and Amy Diamond , among others. These hitmakers give the album a thoroughly contemporary pop treatment, bolstering the songs with big drums, loud choruses, bold basslines, and synth riffs -- though the guitar work is noticeably subdued, thereby keeping everything firmly in the soul-pop camp rather than risk veering off into rock territory -- and they're not afraid to throw everything imaginable into the mix, adding string arrangements, multi-tracked vocals, or whatever else they might need to make the songs come across powerfully. It's all a bit too much -- not only the lyrics but also the production -- and so it comes as a relief when the quaint ballad "All That I Wanted Was You" comes along toward the end of the album and offers a few relatively calm minutes of spare acoustic guitar. On an individual song basis, however, Hassle is first-rate contemporary soul-pop for those young enough to identify with the themes and emotions expressed in album highlights such as "Hurtful," "Don't Bring Flowers," and "Pieces."

This song is by Erik Hassle and appears on the album Hassle (2009) and on the album Pieces (2010) .